Robust Image Watermarking Research Articles

Robust image watermarking approach using polar harmonic transforms based geometric correction

Geometric distortions that cause displacement between embedding and detection are usually difficult for watermark to survive. It is a challenging work to design a robust image watermarking scheme against geometric distortions. In this paper, we propose a robust image watermarking approach using Polar Harmonic Transforms (PHTs) based geometric correction. The novelty of our approach is that (1) the optimal Nonsubsampled Shearlet Transform (NSST), which can provide nearly optimal approximation for 2D image function, is used to embed digital watermark, and (2) the PHTs are exploited for estimating the geometric distortions parameters in order to permit watermark extraction. Experimental results show that the proposed approach not only provides better imperceptibility and robustness against various attacks (including common image processing operations and geometric distortions), but also yields better watermark detection performance than some state-of-the-art image watermarking schemes.

Dual Image Watermarking Algorithm with SVD-DWT and Edge Detection on Different Layers of Colored Image

image watermarking is an emerging copyright protection technology. This paper proposed a new robust digital image watermarking technique to protect the data. In this paper , Dual Watermarking Scheme based on DWT-SVD is presented to improve the robustness and protection. Both Discrete Wavelet Transform and Singular Value Decomposition have been used as a mathematical tool to embed watermark in the image. In this proposed technique, two watermarks are embedded on the different layers in the host image. Various techniques are proposed to hide the data but current technique shows robustness against various attacks.

Robust medical image watermarking technique for accurate detection of tampers inside region of interest and recovering original region of interest

Transmission of medical images among remote places is a general practice in telemedicine. Medical images may be modified intentionally or accidentally as the transmission of these may take place through unsecure networks such as internet. Before making any diagnostic decisions, the medical practitioner has to verify the integrity of region of interest (ROI) in the received medical image in order to avoid wrong diagnosis. Watermarking can be used for checking the integrity of medical images. In this study, the authors propose a novel medical image watermarking method based on integer wavelet transform (IWT). This proposal verifies the integrity of ROI, precisely identifies tampered blocks inside ROI, provides robustness to the data embedded inside region of non-interest (RONI) and recovers original ROI. In the proposed method, the medical image is segmented into ROI and RONI regions. Hash value of ROI, recovery data of ROI and data of patient are embedded into RONI using IWT. Experimental results show that the proposed method provides robustness to the watermark data embedded inside RONI and accurately detects and localises tampered areas inside ROI and recovers the original ROI.

Robust image watermarking based on Riesz transformation and IT2FLS

Conventional digital image watermarking techniques are often vulnerable to image processing and geometric distortions such as Rotation, Scaling, and Translation (RST). These distortions desynchronize the watermark information embedded in an image and thus disable watermark detection. To address this problem, we propose robust watermarking technique using the Riesz Transformation (RT). In the proposed method, watermark is embedded using simple addition and quantization based watermarking technique. In addition, Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Logic System (IT2FLS) is utilized for data fusion and building a model for spatial masking in the Riesz wavelet domain. Cross correlation method based on Neyman–Pearson and normalized correlation (NC) method are deployed for watermark detection and extraction respectively. Experimental results confirmed that the RT based technique is robust against image processing and geometric attack compared to previous techniques and has a good balance between robustness and imperceptibility under the checkmark tool.

Robust digital image watermarking based on fuzzy inference system and back propagation neural networks using DCT

This paper presents an image watermarking technique which exploits the human visual system (HVS), two artificial intelligence techniques [fuzzy inference system (FIS) and back propagation neural networks (BPNN)], and discrete cosine transform. The integration of FIS and BPNN results in a hybrid intelligence technique named neuro-fuzzy system, which combines the advantages of both the techniques. This system uses HVS model for calculating the weighing factor by giving the HVS parameters as inputs to the FIS and BPNN. The computed weighing value is used for embedding the watermark with maximum energy and imperceptibility. Compared to the existing methods, the proposed algorithm makes the watermark invisible and robust against numerous watermarking attacks including low-pass filtering, median filtering, rotation, JPEG compression, row---column copying, row---column blanking, image blurring, etc. Performance metrics used for comparison are peak signal-to-noise ratio and normalized cross correlation.

A robust digital image watermarking based on adaptive multifunctional scheme

Reversible watermarking is mostly fragile, it can restore the original image losslessly if there is no attack during transmission. However, in real life, it is impossible not to be attacked completely. Reversible watermarking loses reversibility and becomes meaningless if it is attacked maliciously. In order to overcome this drawback and broaden its application field, an adaptive multifunctional watermarking scheme is proposed which is a special reversible watermarking scheme, which can not only restore the original image losslessly when it meets no attacks, but also can approximately recover the original image when it encounters malicious attacks. In the paper, the original image is divided into non-overlapping 8×8 blocks. And then, each block is transformed by IDCT (Integer Discrete Cosine Transform). The recovery watermark is generated by the method of 2DPCA (2 Dimension Principal Component Analysis) and the authentication watermark is produced by the special algorithm. According to the proposed block mapping method, the watermarks are embedded into its far mapping block adaptively. Moreover, MC (mapping and compensation) method is proposed to avoid overflow and underflow problems. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme can achieve reversibility and recoverability while keeping the lower distortion and higher embedding capacity.

MEO based secured, robust, high capacity and perceptual quality image watermarking in DWT-SVD domain.

The aim of this paper is to present multiobjective evolutionary optimizer (MEO) based highly secured and strongly robust image watermarking technique using discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and singular value decomposition (SVD). Many researchers have failed to achieve optimization of perceptual quality and robustness with high capacity watermark embedding. Here, we achieved optimized peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and normalized correlation (NC) using MEO. Strong security is implemented through eight different security levels including watermark scrambling by Fibonacci-Lucas transformation (FLT). Haar wavelet is selected for DWT decomposition to compare practical performance of wavelets from different wavelet families. The technique is non-blind and tested with cover images of size 512x512 and grey scale watermark of size 256x256. The achieved perceptual quality in terms of PSNR is 79.8611dBs for Lena, 87.8446 dBs for peppers and 93.2853 dBs for lake images by varying scale factor K1 from 1 to 5. All candidate images used for testing namely Lena, peppers and lake images show exact recovery of watermark giving NC equals to 1. The robustness is tested against variety of attacks on watermarked image. The experimental demonstration proved that proposed method gives NC more than 0.96 for majority of attacks under consideration. The performance evaluation of this technique is found superior to all existing hybrid image watermarking techniques under consideration.

Robust blind image watermarking based on chaotic mixtures

A novel blind image watermarking scheme based on chaotic mixtures is proposed in the paper. The black and white watermark image is firstly scrambled by the use of logistic maps and then embedded into the second-level approximation coefficients of host image in the domain of discrete wavelet transform. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme exhibits very good properties including imperceptibility, robustness and security against conventional image processing and geometrical attacks such as JPEG compression, low-pass filtering, median filtering, Gaussian noise, scaling, rotating, cropping and translation. Experimental results also show superiority of the proposed scheme over existing algorithms with a similar approach. The proposed scheme provides a new viable option for copyright protection of digital multimedia.

An extensive research on robust digital image watermarking techniques: a review

The improvements in internet technologies and growing demands on online multimedia businesses have made digital copyrighting as a major challenge for businesses that are associated with online content distribution via diverse business models including pay–per–view, subscription, trading, etc. Copyright protection and evidence for rightful ownership are the major issues associated with the distribution of any digital images. Digital watermarking is a probable solution for digital content owners that offer security to the digital content. In recent years, digital watermarking plays a vital role in providing the apposite solution and numerous researches have been carried out. In this paper, an extensive review of the prevailing literature related to the image watermarking is presented together with classification by utilising an assortment of techniques. In addition, a terse introduction about the digital watermarking is presented to get acquainted with the vital information on the subject of digital watermarking.

Robust and Invisible Image Watermarking in RGB Color Space Using SVD

In this paper, two separate methods for robust and invisible image watermarking are proposed in RGB color space. In the first method, gray scale of watermark is embedded on the blue color channel elements and in second method, the blue color channel elements of watermark are embedded on the blue color channel elements of host image. Then, Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) is employed on the blue channel of the host image to retrieve the singular values and the watermark is embedded in these singular values. The performances of the methods are assessed using Normalized Correlation (NC) and Peak-Signal-to-Noise-Ratio (PSNR) measures.

3-Level DWT Image Watermarking Against Frequency and Geometrical Attacks

This paper introduces a robust image watermarking technique for the copyright protection. The proposed method is based on 3-level discrete wavelet transform (DWT). Encoded secret image using spiral scanning is hidden by alpha blending technique in LL sub bands. During embedding process, secret image is dispersed within LL band depending upon alpha value. Encoded secret images are extracted and decoded to recover the original secret image. The experimental results demonstrate that the watermarks generated with the proposed algorithm are invisible and the quality of watermarked image and the recovered image are improved. The scheme is found robust to various image processing attacks such as JPEG compression, Gaussian noise, blurring, median filtering and rotation. Index Terms—Image watermarking, 3-level DWT, wavelet transform, attacks, mean square error (MSE), peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR).

Capacity improved robust lossless image watermarking

Nowadays, the lossless watermarking methods that can resist attacks have attracted more attention. Obtaining a robust lossless watermarking was at the cost of reducing the capacity and the watermarked image quality. This study presents a new robust lossless watermarking scheme in the transform domain where the Slantlet transform (SLT) has been applied to transform the host image and blocks of the SLT coefficients have been selected for the embedding process. The histograms of the selected blocks are modified according to a predefined threshold value to carry the watermark bits. The overflow/underflow of the pixel values have been avoided by using a pixel adjustment method as a post-processing step. In the proposed scheme, the original host image can be recovered without any distortion after the hidden watermark has been extracted and the watermark can withstand different kinds of attacks. In comparison with the previous methods, the proposed scheme has higher embedding capacity, better robustness against unintentional attacks and improved visual quality. The results of the experiments prove the efficiency of the proposed scheme.

Geometrically resilient digital watermarking scheme based on radial harmonic Fourier moments magnitude

It is still a challenging work to design a robust image watermarking scheme to resist geometrical transformations. In this paper, we analyze the geometric invariant properties of radial harmonic Fourier moments (RHFMs), and propose a new geometrically resilient digital image watermarking scheme based on RHFMs magnitudes. Firstly, the binary watermark image is encrypted by Arnold transform, and the RHFMs of the host image are computed. Then, the accurate and robust RHFMs are selected according to the moment magnitude distribution. Finally, the encrypted watermark is embedded by quantizing the magnitudes of the selected RHFMs, and the watermarked image is obtained by adding the compensation image to the original host image. Experimental results show that the proposed RHFMs based image watermarking scheme outperforms other moments based watermarking methods, and is robust to a wide range of attacks, e.g., median filtering, random noise addition, JPEG compression, rotation, and scaling, etc.

Enhanced Fast Robustness Digital Image Watermarking Scheme with Secure Chaotic Encryption Scheme Via Selecting Optimal Feature Points

In recent years, with the rapid development of internet, digital data has been widely used in various science and engineering applications. But, this development has also led to several threats and attacks from the intruders. Most of the organizations are very much concerned about the Illegal copyright activities which have become a series issue. A number of copyright protection schemes have been developed in the literature. Watermarking is one of the best known methods for copyright protection. Earlier Bit Error Rate (BER) is been observed to provide good results for choosing the optimal feature region from the watermarked image. However it fails to produce more accurate image quality measures. This research work mainly focuses on a novel technique implemented based on the simulated attacking approach and the GA-based Multi Dimensional Knapsack Problem (MDKP) solving technique to select the most sufficient feature regions for robust digital image watermarking without affecting the image quality. A major limitation in existing methods is the security problems which lead to decrease in the integrity of digital watermarking scheme. With that problem, the definite optimization problems (variant problems) cannot be resolved using genetic algorithms. To focus on the above mentioned problems, the proposed work uses two approaches. Chaotic Iterative Process encryption scheme is used to solve the security problems for watermarking image. Next, the optimal feature points can be chosen from the watermarked image by Modified version of Peak Signal Noise Ratio (MPSNR). MPSNR is based on the enhanced quality measurement of which point opposes the predefined and undefined attacks. With those two approaches the PSO algorithm is employed as a search strategy for identifying an optimal feature subset. The experimental results illustrates that comparing with various well-known feature-based techniques, the proposed method shows better performance in robust and more secure digital watermarking.

Robust and secure fractional wavelet image watermarking

This paper presents an efficient fractional wavelet transform (FWT) image watermarking technique based on combining the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and the fractional Fourier transform (FRFT). In the proposed technique, the host image is wavelet transformed with two resolution levels, and then, the middle frequency sub-bands are FRFT transformed. The watermark is hidden by altering the selected FRFT coefficients of the middle frequency sub-bands of the 2-level DWT-transformed host image. Two pseudo-random noise (PN) sequences are used to modulate the selected FRFT coefficients with the watermark pixels, and inverse transforms are finally applied to get the watermarked image. In watermark extraction, we just need the same two PN sequences used in the embedding process and the watermark size. The correlation factor is used to determine whether the extracted pixel is one or zero. The proposed fractional wavelet transform (FWT) image watermarking method is tested with different image processing attacks and under composite attacks to verify its robustness. Experimental results demonstrated improved robustness and security.

Hybrid Technique for Robust and Imperceptible Image Watermarking in DWT–DCT–SVD Domain

In this paper an algorithm for digital watermarking based on discrete wavelet transforms (DWT), discrete cosine transforms (DCT), and singular value decomposition (SVD) has been proposed. In the embedding process, the host image is decomposed into first level DWTs. Low frequency band (LL) is transformed by DCT and SVD. The watermark image is also transformed by DCT and SVD. The S vector of watermark information is embedded in the S component of the host image. Watermarked image is generated by inverse SVD on modified S vector and original U, V vectors followed by inverse DCT and inverse DWT. Watermark is extracted using an extraction algorithm. The proposed method has been extensively tested against numerous known attacks and has been found to be giving superior performance for robustness and imperceptibility compared to existing methods suggested by other authors.

EMD Algorithm for Robust Image Watermarking

Watermarking is process of hiding digital information into another object/signal. To attain robustness information based on image data is transformed in multiple resolution using Wavelet based image watermarking methods. Embedding watermark bits in middle frequency sub images in the wavelet domain is done using Multiband Wavelet Transform (MWT). At this juncture an attempt is made to analyze robustness for different test images. To resist various attacks Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) is used. Performance evaluation of an Image watermarking includes robustness, imperceptibility, watermark capacity and security. Index Terms Image enhancement Empirical mode decomposition, Multiband wavelets transformation

A geometric correction based robust color image watermarking scheme using quaternion Exponent moments

Most of the existing color image watermarking schemes was designed to mark grayscale images or use the color components, which ignore the significant correlation between different color channels. Recently, several approaches were developed to process the color channels intrinsically, but they always cannot counterattack geometric distortions. It is a challenging work to design a robust color image watermarking scheme against geometrical distortions. In this paper, we propose a geometric correction based robust color image watermarking approach using quaternion Exponent moments (QEMs). The novelty of our approach is that (1) the QEMs are derived to deal with the color images in a holistic manner, and (2) the QEMs are exploited for estimating the geometric distortions parameters in order to permit watermark extraction. Experimental results confirm the validity of our approach and its higher robustness against geometrical distortions compared to alternative watermarking methods in the literature.

DCT Based Fuzzy Image Watermarking

Image watermarking implants an ownership parameter in a digital image or video. This paper works on authentication of the image file. Robust image watermarking technique is used to model the Human Visual System (HVS) using Fuzzy Logic. The proposed Fuzzy Logic System is trained using inference rules considering three sensitivities of HVS as Brightness, Contrast and Edge Sensitivity. The Fuzzy network uses the image captured in realtime and computes block wise for producing a single output weighting factor used to embed unique identification numbers generated from the confidential data as watermark, which is for authorization and verification of the original image. The robustness of the watermark embedded is checked by Stirmark image processing attacks. Recovered watermark's computed value using SIM (X, r) parameter for the image verified it as good watermark recovery process.

Highly Robust Digital Image Watermarking Using Steerable Pyramid and Dual Encryption Technique

A highly robust digital Image watermarking using steerable pyramid transform and dual encryption technique is proposed and simulated. In this paper, steerable pyramid transform is chosen as a suitably transform domain due to its impressive properties for image processing applications. These properties are rotation invariance and translation invariance which are very desirable in applications that involve representation of position or orientation of image structure like digital watermarking. The embedding process performs steerable pyramid transform on the host image using three scales and one orientation. A pretreatment is used to encrypt the binary watermark of size 32x32 using a dual encryption function. After the pretreatment process the encrypted watermark is embedded into low-subband steerable pyramid. Experimental evaluation demonstrates that the proposed scheme is highly robust against several attacks such as Salt \& pepper, Speckle noise, Gaussian noise, Average filter, Median filter, Weiner filter, Sharpening, JPEG compression, Resizing, Rotation, and Cropping